Monday, 28 September 2015

The Third Faction: The Evolved Bionids

The
Third Faction: The Evolved Bionids

The
third Faction in order and in conception, The Evolved Bionids are so
called as an emphasis of their nature and theme, which falls under
the categories of, Offensive, Assault-oriented, Evolving Adaptability
and Evolutionary Versatility, Strong Physical and Genetic Makeup,
Biological Technology, Focussed on the Managing of the Evolution and
Production of Units up a Tech-Tree.

The
underlying idea is that they are a macromanagement-based machine of
war that is focussed on economical management, in order to fuel the
pawns and processes that form the biological collective that is The
Evolved Bionids, managing the evolutionary advancement of the
individual components of its constitution, and by extension the race
itself, all along the directives of fulfilling their evolutionary
aims of advancing their genetics and maintaining the constant
production of new biological-lifeforms, most of which are designed
for war and the processors for the assimilation of new genes as stock
for further adaptation to their surroundings, ultimately creating an
endlessly breeding army of physically superior units, far evolved
beyond the other races and Factions. Hence, The Evolved Bionids.

When
it comes to a race of evolutionary-adapted forces, that by their
nature possess use of technology in an alternate form and not in the
usual shape it takes, to contest the seemingly more advanced
technology of the other Factions (in the standard way as they come
with projectiles of energy bolts and plasma discharges), take such
means as natural armour and weaponry that are entirely biological in
make, yet are of a deceptively strong enough substance to face the
other Factions off on equal footing. As it naturally comes with a
reliance on biological evolution for the means of warfare, the
Bionids are assault-oriented with the emphasis on getting in close
with the enemy's forces, where their natural weapons and armour aids
them best, in the destruction and decimation of their foes, through
claw, fang and teeth. So, among the four Factions, and perhaps on par
with The Great Rhuds, the Bionids have a stronger emphasis on close
combat comparatively.

As
the Bionids were always designed for a playstyle that concentrates on
the economical management of accruing large amounts of resources, and
then translating them into the production of more units, fuelling the
inexhaustible machine of war that is the Evolved, a large part of
what constitutes their gameplay are the themes of Evolving
Adaptability and Evolutionary Versatility, which follow alongside the
idea of what they are attempting achieve with the process of war, the
assimilation of new genetic material, and their conversion as a
resource for diversifying their evolutionary versatility, for
increased survivability through evolving adaptability to the hazards
and risks of their ever-changing environment. With that in mind,
given the focus of playstyle for the Bionids was always meant to be
this way, they have another type of resource to handle and manage,
called Genetic Material, which is gained by several means, the chief
of them being the killing and destruction of enemy units, and the
conversion from there for the Resource Cost of them directly into
Genetic Materials. The basic formation of the "Strong Physical
and Genetic Makeup" of the Bionids, is formed from the
"biological research" of determining the success of
Evolutionary Traits or Mutation Strains, by the amount of Genetic
Materials you devote to that one particular evolution of your choice
and selection.

Given
such a procedure, and also as a factor of balance, each Evolutionary
Trait and Mutation Strain have to be evolved separately for the Base
Strain, and upon which the two Divergent Strains from each of them,
gain those same evolutions and adaptations. There is a reason for
this, part of it the shift of focus for this particular Faction
becoming centrally about macromanagement and production. And almost
as if to emphasise that, individual Bionid units cannot be controlled
or moved on their own, but rather require "Synapse"
creatures, either Hive Kings or Nests, to relay instructions or
direct the other Strains which are within a range of 2 hexes from
each. I initially had this idea for the Rhuds, I wanted a controlling
mechanism that showed the feral or near animal-state of the race, on
how they operated more on instinct, given their evolutionary
primitivity and presence as a new race on the galactic scene, and was
meant to offset how cheap and numerous they can get, but it turned
out a wiser and more sensible decision to have that reserved for a
Faction like the Evolved Bionids.

Having
such a design framework, it was decided too, both by decisive
intention and the manner of how the Faction's playstyle evolved
towards in the end with the way it worked, the Bionids were always
meant to be a highly offensive-based Faction, which is such an
approach that is greatly encouraged when playing as them, given the
need to accumulate and manage two different types of resources, as
the prime basis for their method of economically-focussed gameplay,
and so this agenda was cleverly enforced with the full operative of
how The Evolved Bionids came to be. The implementation of this
secondary resource helped shaped and defined the background and
function of the Bionids, first as a further stress of the importance
of economy for them, and since this is a race that rely on huge
numbers of superiorly-evolved creatures, all of which require great
reserves of resources to accomplish, the dynamic of having two
different types of resources facilitates and distinguishes the
economic engine that characterises the Evolved Bionids.

Understanding
this, you will realise why the different Strains are required to
evolve Traits separately for just their Base and Divergent Strains.
First of all, this has a technical aspect that happens to be thematic
as well, since the Strains are quite powerful already in their own
right, and having to evolve separately for each increases the choices
you can make, both in tactical quality and the quantity of such
"research" (more like evolution or mutation) you can make.
If one Evolutionary Trait researched affected all of the rest
collectively, tactical diversity will be removed and the theme of
emphasising how the evolutionary aims of the Bionids are its one,
singular and overriding objective, loses focus and thematic value,
given the evolutionary process of evolving Traits and mutating
Divergent Strains becomes much easier and simplified, as when
compared to how I have designed it to work, the tactical viability
becomes apparent in the weighing of intelligent options in how you
want to evolve certain units, so that they become more specialised
for instance, or what units you want to have upgraded or empowered
this way, to become generally more formidable or suited for their
task or particular method of warfare. So as the design of the Faction
progressed, I worked in how, with there being six Strains, or seven
if you count the Leader Strain comprised of the Hive Queen and King
too, of first the Worker Strain, meant to aid in the economical
aspect of playing this race, the Warrior Strain, where very cheap and
basic fighting forces that are as yet combat-efficient, can be built,
the Stealth Strain, which is almost an assassin branch of the
biological war machine that is the Bionids, the Support and
Specialist Strains, meant as support or for their specialised
effects, and finally, possibly what is the ultimate Strain for the
Bionids, or can be referred to as the Crown Strain, named Brute
Strain officially, the most powerful forces the Bionids can muster,
in terms of damage and toughness, they can all be built with as much
diversity in Traits as there are as many of them, since you will only
concentrate certain changes in Traits for the Strains you think need
them or want them to have, and in this way highlights the
replayability of the Faction.

And
just like a race of biological terrors, resorting to "Biological
Technology" as a substitute for more conventional forms as they
come with what we understand as standard technology, that even though
seemingly frail from being constructed of substances organic and
natural in origin and make, are more than capable of matching in
potency and power the armaments of the other Factions. This is
important to note, for given how they operate through the controlling
of intermediary mediums like Nests and the Hive Kings, some extent in
how you lead and control your troops is taken from you, almost as if
to allow you a clearer focus on the macromanagement aspects of this
race. And true enough it works so, almost as if encouraging you to
throw your endless forces against the walls of your enemy's base,
overrunning them with numbers in confrontative assault. This
limitation of control too, having movement and control of your
fighting units regulated by Synapse mediums, allows for more powerful
units, that are compensated to some degree by the lack of their
ability to be functional without the generating influence of a Hive
King. So control over your economy, as well as carefully decided
positionings of your Hive Kings are key to winning with this Faction,
and at this moment, they appear the Faction that most endears to me,
given my own preference for the Zerg when playing StarCraft.

All
in all, this was a more complicated race than the first two to
design, and the concepts for it stayed stagnant for quite some time,
before I made progress by just forcing myself to work and develop it
with the stride and pace of what inspiration I had. In my initial
conceptions for this Faction, and how they would work, I had a rather
complicated and abstract view of how they would eventually turn out,
you know, in the way that most ideas usually appear in a foggy way,
that seemed rather brilliant and almost impossible in requiring the
efforts of a genius to realise, by all margins more work and
substance beyond ordinary means. It felt that way for this race too,
but once progressing with it, and having to work within the
structural dynamics of the rules of the game already established and
laid out, it turned out eventually, even if not as fantastic as
imagined or hoped for, a workable piece with a very interesting
background to it. And with that, I end this piece, with a peace out.

9 comments:

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